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November 16, 2005
MFA Reflection
To me, the MFA feels like an escape because when you're inside, you don't really think about any of the work you have to do that week, or any tests you may have coming up, or what your plans are for the weekend. It's really just a time to appreciate the art and relax your mind. The architecture of the museum really helps to create this feel. The high ceilings, large rooms, and general silence give me room to think because my mind doesn't feel very cluttered. I like how the architecture of each room, mirrors the style of the exhibit in that particular room. For example, when you go into the room with the mummies, the lighting is dim and the air is warm and almost stuffy, giving it the feel of a tomb.
I brought virtually no assumptions to the Ansel Adams exhibit. All I knew about Adams as an artist was that he worked in black and white. I did not know that he was a photographer, rather than a painter, not did I know that the main focus of his work was in nature. I really had no clue what to expect when going in there.
"Lake Near Muir Pass, Kings River Canyon, Sierra Nevada" -1933
Since he works in only black and white, many of Adams's photographs have dramatic color contrasts. In this photo, the snowy white mountain meets with the black lake creating a distinct barrier between the two and really separating the two elements. Adams uses shading to create texture in the mountain. He also uses focus to differentiate between the real mountain, and the fake mountain that is only a reflection in the lake. The real mountain has roughness to it and it is sharply defined, whereas the reflection is a little blurrier and everything looks smooth and glossed over
Adams presented this photograph to a comittee when proposing that the Kings River Canyon be transfered to the National Park Service in order to ensure its preservation. At first glance, the photograph appears to contain two mountains, but when you look closer you see that one is merely the reflection of the other and it is not real. I think Adams's message is that there is only one real Kings River Canyon; it cannot be replicated, therefore we must act to save it.
Since this is a photograph, it definitely contains representative visual data. We see the mountain as it would be seen with our own two eyes if we were to stand in front of it and see it in person. Adams does not distort the image, he merely presents it to us as it appears in reality. I think that Adams's use of water is symbolic of purity. The pristine lake has not been polluted or harmed by society, and Adams is suggesting that it stay that way. The abstraction of this piece is in the reflection of the mountain in the lake. This image gives meaning to the piece because it suggests that there is no way to replicate nature exactly, and it would be a shame to not preserve such a one-of-a-kind mountain.
"Maynard Dixon, Artist, Tucsen, Arizone" -1945
Adams's use of shading is prominent in this photograph. There are dark shadows cast over the old man so that half of his face cannot even be made out. The shading also gives way to texture. The texture of the man's wrinkled face and clothes, the texture of the screen in front of the man, as well as the texture of the dry and wilted plants makes this seemingly simple photograph full of details to observe.
I think that this is a photograph about death. The old man's expression is sad. He is not smiling and his eyes are gleaming at the camera. Adams really capture his age by surrounding him with dead plants, and the dried-out, cracking bark of a tree. The man sits behind a screen and is immersed in shadows, giving his a ghost-like appearance.
There is representative visual data because it is a photograph. Symbols include the dry bark and the wilted flowers, which represent death, and the glasses that the man wears, which represents failed sight and old age. Abstraction is in the form of the screen and the shadows, which distance the old man, and give the photograph a ghostly feel.
This photograph relates to some of Adams's landscape photos in that he uses texture in both to give detail and complication to an otherwise simple image. Also the man's old age corresponds to the ancient mountains.
"Rails and Jet Trails, Roseville, California" -1953
The contrasting dark and light shades in this photograph distinctly separate the ground and sky, which are the two main focuses. Adams also uses perspective to convey a feeling of vastness both on land, as train track can be seen until they disappear in the distance, and in the sky, as looping jet trails give a sense of how much space there is up there.
I think that by taking what would have been a landscape picture, but having it dominated by reminders of our industrialized world, Adams is commenting on our disregard for nature. He is also suggesting that we no longer take the time to enjoy nature, as we live in a high speed world where we are constantly travelling across the globe at record speeds.
Besides representative visual data, there are symbols in this photograph. The train tracks and the jet trails are symbolic of transportation. There is a big antennae that is blocking the sun. I think that this is symbolic of how our inventions have come to dominate the world, and we no longer notice nature anymore. Abstraction is present in the similarity between the winding train tracks and the winding jet trails. This similarity represents the fact that we have come to dominate both the land and the sky.
This photograph is similar to Adams's landscape pieces, except that is has reminders of technology in the way of nature. Like in Adams's landscapes, the black and white simplifies the scene, but even more so in this photograph where the idea of a technologically complicated world is present.
"Slave Ship" -Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1840
This painting is compelling upon sight, but one you know the actual story behind it, it is even more moving. It is a landscape of a turbulent sea and blazing sky. The sea however is not blue as one would expect it to be, but instead it is brown, red, orange, and a greasy white. The sky is red, yellow, and white. The two elements (water and sky) mix and blend together as if they were one plain. A wooden ship can be faintly seen sailing away from the foreground of the painting. The ship's wood appears red and bloody.
The story behind this piantin gis that it is supposed to depict the slave ship Zong, whose captain, in 1783, threw sick slaves overboard in order to collect insurance money for slaves lost at sea.
In the bloody ocean, sinking away from the surface, can be seen chained limbs of the slaves. Swarms of fish are preying on these limbs, giving way not only to humans violence, but natural violence as well. The color used in this painting are what truly depict the emotion in it.
Although it deals with a difficult subject, and the violence is hard to look at it, I think this piece is a "work of art" because it causes so much emotion. Just in sitting in front of it for 10 or 15 minutes, I noticed that this is the type of painting that people really stop to look at. People are drawn to it because it raises questions and challenges ideas. I think that if a painting has the ability to make people stop and think, then it is definitely a "work of art."
Posted by lcissullivan at November 16, 2005 08:47 PM